Park Guell

Park Guell is located on the hillside above the main part of Barcelona. It was designed by Gaudi so it is a fun, quirky place. Like most of the sites in Barcelona it is necessary to book ahead for a specific entry time. Seeing the museums, parks and churches in Barcelona will quickly lighten your wallet and test your patience. At 10am this morning the earliest available entry time for Park Guell was 4pm. On the dot, they won't let you in even a minute early. Part of the park was free and open to the public, so if you wanted to hike uphill and get some good views of the city you were in luck. But, if you want to get into the "monument area" you better have planned ahead. And there are booking charges  from 2-6 euros on top of the entry prices. Supposedly this isn't high season, but there are plenty of tourists here and I can't imagine what it would be like with many more!

That's enough whining for now... While I was waiting for 4pm to arrive I amused myself hiking around the rest of the park and watching the flock of parrots fly from palm tree to palm tree squawking loudly to one another. 

The monument part of the park was designed to be used for big outdoor events and resembles a dragon with undulating waves of tiled ceramic benches and walls circling around the entire area. It is fun and whimsical and invites people to sit down and take out their selfie sticks to get the best photos. I'm only partly joking about the selfie sticks. Some people do the old fashion way and ask a stranger to take their picture, trusting they won't run off with their smart phone. Even the guys from Africa down by the waterfront that are hawking knock off bags, scarves and trinkets sell the selfie sticks! 

After getting my fill of Park Guell I walked back down the steep hill and reboardrd my double decker bus to continue on the loop back to the starting point. I made a quick stop at the market so I could make a big salad for dinner. Mmm.